The present invention is directed to a candy dispensing apparatus.
Various dispensing devices have been designed in the past to provide entertaining ways of dispensing pieces of candy or other articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 790,111 to Crossley discloses a match delivering device having a vertically movable human figure with a pair of outwardly extending arms and an internal storage area for storing matches. Pushing the human figure downwards causes one of the matches in the storage area to be ejected and held on the outwardly extending arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,356 to Lambert discloses a cigarette dispenser having a skeleton figure which moves from a laying position to a sitting-up position in which the skeleton figure holds a cigarette in a pair of bony hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,725,965 to Ormiston discloses a mechanism for dispensing globular articles such as gumballs. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4 of the patent, the dispensing mechanism has a human FIG. 35 with an arm that holds a scoop 52 that is shaped to hold a single gumball. The human FIG. 35 is movable so that the scoop 52 moves to receive a single gumball from a plurality of gumballs stored in an area behind a pivotally mounted door 38. After a gumball is deposited in the scoop 52, the human FIG. 35 is movable to position the scoop 52 with the gumball therein over a dispensing trough 57 operatively connected to a delivery tray 137. The scoop 52 is then tilted so that the gumball falls in the dispensing trough 57 and then onto the delivery tray 137, at which point the gumball can be picked up.
One prior art candy dispensing mechanism which was marketed more than one year before the filing of this patent was an M&M.RTM. candy dispensing character. That dispensing character had a M&M.RTM. candy shaped body, a pair of boots which were attached to a bottom portion of the body, a pair of movable hands and arms that extended outwardly from body, and a cylindrical candy container filled with M&M.RTM. candies which mounted onto the body in an inverted position.
In use, after the candy container with the M&M.RTM. candies was mounted onto the body in its inverted position, the position of the left hand of the prior art candy dispensing character was manipulated to cause an M&M.RTM. candy to be dispensed from the candy container into the right hand of the candy dispensing character. In particular, in response to a user pivoting the left hand, the right hand of the candy dispensing character would be drawn into the body, an M&M.RTM. candy would be deposited into the right hand, and then the right hand would move outwardly with the M&M.RTM. candy disposed therein.